CBI urges business to speak up for EU, while Spencer warns referendum should not be rushedThe Times reports that during tonight’s annual CBI dinner, CBI President Sir Mike Rake will urge business leaders to speak out in favour of EU membership. He will say, “The question is not whether the UK would survive outside the EU, but whether it...

Please join us for a Statesmen’s Forum featuring NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg as he considers the challenges facing the Transatlantic Alliance and the ways in which NATO must adapt. What are the challenges posed by a more assertive Russia? Are its aggressive actions in Ukraine part of a larger pattern? read more …read more...

The EU summit in Riga with the “Eastern Partnership” countries recalls the dramatic Vilnius meeting in November 2013, where Ukraine’s president, under heavy Russian pressure, refused to sign the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. Russia’s behavior since then has made the Eastern Partnership more important than ever. …read more...

As part of our spring symposia series, we’ve asked our scholars to weigh in on the challenges the West faces today in the former Soviet Union. This week, Rich Seibert and Matt Lina will discuss a revanchist, barely-chastened Russia’s impact on Ukraine and the Baltics, and their relationship with Europe and the United States. Next...

Currently the United States is assisting Ukraine against Russia by providing some non-lethal military equipment as well as limited training for Kiev’s army. It has balked at getting more involved in the conflict, rightly so. With that in mind, I had a meeting with a delegation of Ukrainian parliamentarians and government officials a couple...

On May 12, the Russian-controlled Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” (DPR, LPR) jointly presented their proposals for changing Ukraine’s Constitution. Their documents avoid using the terms “DPR” and “LPR,” even as they rapidly consolidate their state structures and armies under Russia’s protection. From that position of...

Moscow, Berlin, some other Western European capitals, and most recently, US Secretary of State John Kerry are growing eager to see the Minsk Two agreement’s political phase starting in Ukraine. The Minsk Contact Group’s Working Groups have been launched, inaugurating that political phase (see EDM, May 15). The Kremlin has encouraged...

Russia is slowly recovering from this month’s (May 9) celebrations of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany 70 years ago, but remains reluctant to take stock of the problems that are looming large over the immediate future (see EDM, May 11). The propaganda story is typically self-serving: Russia has allegedly succeeded in...